The overall goal of this SBIR proposal is the development of a synthetic peptide conjugate vaccine that will elicit neutralizing antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites. This project is built upon a previously identified murine monoclonal antibody raised against P. falciparum sporozoites that protects mice against a P. berghei sporozoite challenge. The binding site of this monoclonal antibody was revealed by epitope mapping to consist of a dipeptide sequence common to the circumsporozoite (CS) proteins of both P. falciparum and P. berghei. In Phase I, we will prepare synthetic peptide conjugate vaccines and determine their protective efficacy in a murine malaria model. These studies will lay the foundation for the further development of conjugate or recombinant vaccines for preclinical studies in Phase II and III.